Sugar, Spice & Nothing Nice
by monowriter
Summary: They do say the best things come in small packages. The Joker would just have to investigate that himself, thank you very much.
1. Lions, Tigers and Clowns! Oh My!

_**11:43 PM – The Wayward Motor Lodge**_

 _ **Gotham City**_

The flashing red and blue neon sign outside the motel's lobby doors flickered the ' _Vacancy'_ lettering with the tell-tell buzzing frying sound that accompanied the lights, making a florescent eerie glow light up the small front desk area where a bored stricken, pale woman sat behind the computer.

Bony, white fingers gripped an old TV remote that the girl was flipping through the channels with disinterest in the passing shows she ran across. Her glazed over emerald eyes stared dispassionately, looking but not seeing anything that the tube showed, Spanish soap operas and game show hosts littered the few channels available.

 _Booooooring._

She was shook out of her thoughts when the corded telephone on the desk beside her shrilled to life, leaning over the keyboard and lifting the phone to ear, she plastered on a false grin and answered.

"Thank you for calling the Wayward Motor Lodge, this is Drew speaking, how may I help you?" came the artificial greeting, wrapped and presented with a sloppy bow.

"Yea, you got any vacancy, sweetie? For about 7 head?" It was a man, if the gruff voice and chauvinist little nickname he had tagged on once he had realized there was a female on the other end of the line was any indication.

Drew felt the muscle right below her left eye start to jump in impatience, "Yes, sir. We have plenty of rooms for you and your friends, our rooms range between the price range of one hundred-"

A bark of laughter came through the line and disrupted Drew, "Don't care about the price. We'll be there soon, sweetheart."

A bolt of irritation raced down her spine at yet again _another_ nickname and the abrupt interruption, oh yes. That would be so much fun when they finally showed up to get the rooms. But before she could utter another word, the dial tone echoed in her ear.

With a disgruntled look and a huff, Drew set the phone back on the hook.

"Asshole." She hissed down at the device.

Sitting back into her rolling chair, letting out a long groan of satisfaction as she reached up toward the ceiling and could feel her back popped and untwist from her hunched over position. Drew reached up and scratched behind her studded right ear with an uncertain look on her face as she mulled over and processed her most recent conversation.

' _That guy did say him and his friends…I would guess they're men too.'_ Drew pondered, then an irked expression darkened her features, ' _I swear, if I have to endure them harassing me with a smile on my face, I'm going to demand a raise'_.

Running a hand through the dirty blonde mess she called hair, a determined look crossed her face as she reached underneath the desk and touched the Sig Sauer MK-25 that was strapped and well-hidden for her own access if a patron came across her wrong. Her best friend had gifted it to her once he found out that she was working the night shift at the motel.

" _Jeff?! A Sig Sauer?!" Drew squealed in astonishment at the small firearm._

" _It'll blow those bastards straight off their ankles." Drew's long time best friend, Jeff Rodriguez, smirked back at her._

 _Drew sent him a bewildered look, "And me too! You do realize I have the body weight of a large dog, right?"_

 _Jeff blinked at her before glancing down at her small form then shrugged sheepishly, "Sorry, Dre. You need something that packs a punch because you sure as hell don't cut an intimating figure."_

 _She bristled before casting a scalding look over at him, "Hey! I take offence to that, I can defend myself."_

 _The man deadpanned for a second before sighing and reaching a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose, "Just take the damn thing, Dre."_

Drew was yanked out of her memory when the sound of two vehicles pulling up and into the parking lot of the motel, she turned her head to look out of the large glass doors to see twin white vans with blacked out windows driving around and onto the side of building to park.

Curiously, Drew stood up from her chair and moved closer to the doors when she heard the doors on the vehicles slam repeatedly and the sound of multiple footsteps heading toward the curb.

Seven dark silhouettes lumbered up the small slope until they stepped under the yellowed lightening right outside the lobby doors, Drew felt her chest constrict with nervousness when the faces that were exposed all proved to be roughened and not very friendly at all before she saw one figure break from the group and lean up against the side of the motel.

' _Great.'_ Drew thought with a sarcastic twinge.

Scurrying back to her desk, she pasted on a 1000 watt smile and waited for them to enter.

Snatching open the right glass door, the men started to pile in and with them, the artic breeze that frequented Gotham during the winter months making Drew's arm hair stand on end and the tip of her metal clad ears to turn pink with the sudden chill.

"Hello, welcome to the Wayward." Drew greeted them instantly regretting it when all eyes were now on her.

It was silent for a moment before one of men from the back stepped up to the desk with a small smirk, "Hiya, sweetie. How much for 4 rooms? 3 with two double beds and one with just a regular queen or king, whichever."

Drew blinked at him for a moment before digesting what he said, "Oh! Um…" She bashfully stammered before grabbing for her calculator to the left of her desktop.

She quickly punched in the correct amount for each room and added them up together before blurting out, "About $466. Plus tax."

The man dug around in his pockets for a second before producing a couple crumpled hundreds and some rolled up twenties, dropping them down in front of her before continuing his search in his back pockets and coming up with nothing but air.

He had enough decency to look sheepish before holding up a finger at her, "Uh, one sec."

Walking out of the lobby with a nervous stride before walking up to the lone figure that hadn't come inside with the rest of them.

Drew could see him talking with the still anonymous person that had hidden themselves well into the crevice of the wall. She could see him motioning towards the front desk with frantic hands and widened eyes.

' _What the hell? Why is he acting so scared?'_ Drew asked herself with a slight head tilt.

She startled when a glint of sliver reflected out in the darkness from the gleaming egg-wash lights, making her even more curious at what was taking place outside. After a few seconds of tense talking, the man walked back in now slightly pale and sweating with a haunted look deep in his eyes.

"Here," He slapped the rest of the money onto the counter and shoved his hands in the pockets of his trench coat.

Drew mentally sent him a stank eye at the rude way he had gave her the money but quietly turned to her computer and filled out the appropriate forms for the rooms. Rolling her chair back a bit so she could reach the safe were all the keys to the rooms were hidden, she snatched up the room keys for numbers #5, #6, #7, and #9.

Shelling out the different keys to three separate men, she gave them the directions to the respected rooms and plastered on her false smile once again.

In her hand was the remaining one room with the single queen bed in it, #9.

When the men turned away to depart to their rooms for the night, she called out to the one who had paid her.

"Um, Sir! You forgot this last key." She told him, dangling it right over the counter.

He barely turned to gaze at her over his shoulder before replying, "He'll come in and grab it himself." Were his last words before he started toward the room he had been placed in. Drew stared at his back in confusion before he stopped and called over to her, "And don't stare, kid."

Drew threw a befuddled look before shrugging and sitting back down at her desktop with a silent sigh.

She stared at the computers keyboard in silence for a second before getting back up so she could log the rooms that had been booked for the night so the housekeepers could clean them whenever they came in for their shift in the morning. Drew peered down at her wrist watch before glaring angrily at the tiny numbers blinking back at her.

 _12:28 AM_

Five more hours left.

While her back was to the doors in the front of the lobby, she heard them peel open and the rush of freezing wind spinning around the room before the jingle of the door closing echoed.

' _Finally come in, has he?'_ Drew side eyed the blurred, yet curiously, purple blob that had crept through the front.

Steeling herself for whatever bozo that had walked through those doors, the same phony grin as before as Drew spun around to greet him. What she saw would throw her unknowingly into a deep spiral of insanity she could never dream up on her own.

Drew Havana Reeves' life would never be the same.

Her heart seemed to jump and then come to a standstill as ice now clogged up her arteries, Drew's pinched smile wavered for a moment as she drunk in what exactly was in front of her.

It was a clown.

'… _I think.'_ She blinked at the white faced jester before her.

He was tall, taller than her boss and broad shouldered, but he hunched them forward like there was an invisible weight pressing down on them. His gloved hands were clasped behind his back loosely as he seemed to take in the lobby they were in, slowly strolling through it like he was in a park somewhere staring at the birds in the trees. The white grease paint that he had slathered on was running down and into the collar of his lighter purple, hexagon patterned button shirt and some areas of the white had been stripped completely free of the paint so you could see the patches of creamy skin underneath.

"Hello, sir. I have y-your room key here." Drew stumbled over her words a bit as the once collected clown snapped his head around to her, giving her a site that she had to stifle a gasp for.

A red slash as a mouth greeted her when he turned his entire head to face her but what really got her going was the twin, Cheshire Cat smile slicing up his cheeks toward his temples. One was a straight line, a smooth cut but the other…it was jagged and looked like it took several tries to carve the cheek tissue. Two dark brown eyes stared back at behind the caked on black paint that made the chocolate of his orbs look that much darker and deeper.

Stringy dyed green hair fell over the shoulders of his bulking plum coat, as he tilted his head at her with a slight smirk.

"And, uh, wha **t** would my _roooom_ number be, um" He stopped to theatrically lean forward and squinted his eyes like he was trying hard to read the name tag fasten to her blouse, "Dr _eee_ w? Isn' **t** that a- _uh_ **boys** name?"

"Unisex." She automatically replied, having done this song and dance many times before.

His eyebrows shot up his forehead comically, " _Uni-_ sex?"

Drew shifted uncomfortably and looked off to the side with a pink tinting her cheeks, "Um, for boys and girls."

His voice pitch rose and fell with every couple words making them high one minute and then extremely low the next. Something was off with this guy, she just knew it.

He nodded in understanding before holding out his purple covered hand, palm up and wiggled his fingers at her.

Drew flushed in embarrassment and hastily scooped up the key so she could place it in his awaiting hand, just as she was pulling back from him, his arm lashed out as his long fingers squeezed tightly around her thin wrist just to yank her closer to him.

Stumbling forward so that her lower abdomen was snug against the counter and her face was inches from him, she could see every imperfection on his face this close up. The finger strokes from where he had put on his paint, every dip and knot in his crimson grin even down to the pores on his nose that the grease paint had clogged up.

He sneered at her panic expression while giving her a glimpse of the sunflower yellow gleam his teeth gave off.

"Some **th** ing the matt- _er_ , _doll?_ " Came the mocking lilt, the pressure on her wrist increasing.

Giving a sharp tug at his hold, Drew stared at him with wide verdant optics, " _Please,_ let go of my wrist."

He turned his head to side to show her his ear before replying, "Sorry, wha **t** was th- _a_ _ **t**_?"

Drew straightened up before frowning at him just to try and tug herself away from his crushing grip, panic was making her chest heave and her pupils dilate until nothing but a green ring remand.

"Let me go…" She was becoming hysterical, Drew could feel the warning burn that came right before tears started to stream.

The clown released a small demented giggle, tugging her closer to his face. He eyed her distress look before snickering again at her pathetic attempt to deter him.

"Wha **t** _ss_ wrong, _toots?_ You don' **t** like my- _uh_ smil _eee_?" He was trying to stifle giggles throughout the whole sentence before leaning his head back to let out a hoot of broken laughter that chilled Drew done to her bone marrow.

Drew gritted her teeth together in a flash of ire, "Get off of me, you fucking clown!"

He leaned back forward still letting out little hiccups of laughter, running a single finger underneath his eye like he was wiping away a stray tear but his grip hadn't loosened at all in his laughing fit. In all of a split second, he jerked her toward himself again but this time he pressed his nose against her own so that his eyes could bore into hers heatedly.

"Or wha **t? You'll** make, uh," He paused for a second to look around the room dramatically then focused back on her with renewed vigor as he pressed a finger into his chest, "M _eee?_ "

The clown sarcastically glanced down at her small form and took in that he had pulled her up onto the tiptoes of her boots when he had snatched her to him, he raised an eyebrow at how ridiculously small this girl was then looked back up at her with a mocking glint shining in his eyes.

Drew's cheeks burned scarlet at his very oblivious leer at her, she knew she was small!

Her mind raced her back to a quote from Shakespeare her mother used to recite to her whenever Drew would pout and whine about her less than adequate body. She lacked the full hips and breasts that every other girl in her high school had but her mother thought she was perfect the way she was.

" _Though she be but little, she is fierce!"_

Drew thinned her lips and lowered her chin to stare the clown head on, "Let. Me. The. **Fuck.** Go."

The clown cackled again then dipped his hand into the right breast pocket of his coat but as soon as she saw him move to go into his clothes, her fight or flight response kicked into overdrive.

' _He's getting a weapon!'_ She screamed in her head, eyes wide and fearful.

Drew heaved her all her body weight backwards with a stiff grunt, making sure to twist and squirm at his hand on her wrist. She could already see the signs of bruising as she slipped a bit away from him.

"Where ya goin', _doll?_ " He hooted following her forward, in the throes of the game. Her breathing hitched when the sound of something flicking open caught her attention and peered down to see the sliver shine of a pocket knife in his free hand.

Drew planted her feet firmly as soon as she was able and quickly reached underneath the desk to jerk the gun from its holder there, she could hear the velcro tear apart when she viciously tore it out of its hiding spot. With a solid grip even in her sweaty palms, she pulled back the hammer with her thumb making the slight ' _click'_ at which the clown raised his head up in slight shock as Drew lined it up precisely with his paint smeared forehead.

"Get the fuck off. **NOW.** " Drew snarled at him, her upper lip curling back and exposing the white caps of her teeth. He considered her for a moment before he could feel a grin itch at the corner of his lips.

"N _ow,_ _ **this**_ is a, _uh,_ inter-es **t** ing developm _en_ _ **t**_ , **"** His tongue darted to wet his lips, tracing over a small scar that resided on his lower lip.

The clown lowered his chin so he could stare at her from the tops of his eyes, making the dark pools glimmer in the low light of the office.

He gazed intensely at the girl in front of him.

' _Drew.'_ His brain answered for him when he wondered back to what he had found out her name was.

He hadn't thought much of the slight girl behind the counter when he had waltzed in here for some much needed rest, for himself and his men. She was petite, alarmingly so, with doll pale skin and the wide, doe eyes to match her meek appearance. The clown had pegged her for a quiet victim, maybe a little whimpering and a few screams before he silenced her completely with a single swipe of his blade across that delicate neck of hers.

When he had snatched her up, he could feel the trembling of her limbs and the shakiness of her breath on his face.

' _Smelt like coffee and cigarettes.'_ He absent mindedly admitted.

But he was completely floored when she began to show signs of aggression at him, and now?

The clown wanted to throw his head back and let loose a roar of laughter when her hand had dove underneath the desk just to unclip a, _very impressive and where did she get that?,_ Sig Sauer MK-25 with the works to point it right at his skull with unwavering eyes.

 _Now_ they were talking his language.

"Do, uh, y _ooo_ u even know how to- _um_ use tha **t**?" He questioned her with a slight tilt of his head and a narrowing of his eyes at the firearm in her hand.

Drew set her jaw and gave the man a seething look, "Want to find out?" she hissed at him.

This time the clown did rear back and start to cackle loudly at her answer, his body convulsing with each laugh that left his open maw. His mouth was open so wide she feared that the scars on either sides of his cheeks would reopen and start dribbling blood.

As soon as it started it stopped and he rounded back on her with half-lidded eyes and a pleased smirk quirking his lips, he leaned towards her and pushed the tip of the barrel deeper into the skin of his forehead.

" **That** , "He snickered a little, "Was the, uh, correc **t** answer."

As quickly as the knife was out, it was closed and stuffed back into his pocket. He mockingly raised his hands in the air in a sign of surrender and to show her he didn't have the blade in his hand anymore. Drew shifted on her feet nervously, the adrenaline she had felt early flushing out of her system and leaving her a quivering mess in front of this mad clown.

The hand on her wrist had long been removed but now she had this clown at gunpoint and no idea what to do now.

"Um…" She muttered, scanning his hands for any kind of weapon before she lowered her gun from his head slightly only to regret it seconds later.

The clown swiped out with a large palm and knocked the pistol out of her fingers, making it clatter to the carpeted flooring and letting off a round into the ceiling of the motel. Drew squeaked in fear when she heard the gun fire near her but the clown didn't let her be distracted to long as he bent back over to grip the front of her shirt in his fists just to snatch her over the desk.

She let out a yelp of pain when she found herself pressed hard up against the front of the desk making her spine arch uncomfortably, she could hear the peals of laughter coming from the psychotic man before her.

"Got _cha_." He winked teasingly at Drew and gave her a little shake to make her head flop back so he could fully see her fear stricken face.

But once again Drew proved to be a delight when he pulled back to see a look of immense anger written across her expression, her cheeks were a lovely shade of deep crimson that made her eyes pop and shimmer in her ire.

Another chuckle left his lips when she started thrashing in his grip, wriggling around like a fish caught on the wrong end of the hook.

"Let me go, clown boy!" Drew growled at him, reaching her hands up and curling around his own so she could spear her nails into the leather of his gloves.

Said clown blinked and looked offended for a brief second before the smile was back in place, "Clown boy? Don' _ **tcha**_ know my nam _e?"_

Drew ignored his blabbering and continued her struggle to get him to release her so she could go back to the gun that had been smacked out of her hand and finish the job.

' _I better fucking get a raise.'_ Drew fumed at herself.

The clown huffed in slight irritation at the squirming of the girl in his grasp then he gave her another, albeit harsher, shake.

"Come on, _doll_ face. Ya know, The Clown Prince of Crime?" He looked at her to see if any recognition registered on her face.

Nada.

"Ace of Knaves?"

Zip.

"Jester of Genocide?" He tried again with a small pout.

All he got back was the enraged emerald spheres glaring back at him with enough heat to light up a camp fire.

"N _oooothing?_ " He whined, slightly miffed that this wisp of a woman was putting a kink in his mood.

Drew was the epitome of confused right now. First this maniacal clown was wielding a knife at her now here he was grumbling because she didn't know his name.

"Can we just, "Drew groaned, her body fatigued and ready to slump back in her office chair, "Even Stevens?"

The clown seemed to ponder her request and calculating quietly in his head before he looked up at the ceiling with bored eyes then released her like she was burning him through the covering on his hands.

"S _uuure, doll."_ He droned with a nasally tone then looked at her with searing muddy eyes, " **Even Stevens."**

A chill zipped down her spinal cord when they locked eyes and the room lapsed into silence as they stared each other down, waiting for the other to make the first move.

He made the first move, stepping toward the fallen set of keys she had previously gave him that he had let drop to the floor when he had first grabbed her. The clown bent down and picked them up, jingling them in his palms for a second before turning away with the Andy Griffin whistle leaving his scarred lips.

Drew stood where he had left her, shaken as he made his way back to the front lobby doors so he could get to his room to lay down for the night.

She was getting ready to go fetch the fallen pistol from the ground when he called back over his shoulder with a merry twinkle in his eyes, "Well, doll _face_ , I **was** going to slice up that pr _eee_ ty mug of yours," He clicked his tongue against his cheek, "But, I've- _uh_ seemed to _stumbled_ upon quite the, uh, _**prize."**_

Drew felt her throat close up in terror as he revealed his would-be plans for her had she not retaliated. The way his voice twisted and deepened the last couple words sent a rock of dread sinking in her stomach and settled heavily.

He turned away from her once again, whistling the same tune before stopping himself again with a palm to his forehead in a mock gesture of forgetfulness.

"Oh, ye _aaa_ h. Ne **xt** time, I- _uh_ , see your face- **uh,** I want y _ooou_ to know ju **st** actually w _hoo,"_ He twirled a finger in the air just to stab at his vest covered chest, " _I_ am. Or, I'll **give** you a match _ing_ pair." The clown motioned to his large grin before giving her another wink and loping out of the lobby and down the sidewalk.

She was still seized up with fear even when he disappeared around the corner and she heard the door slam.

Drew let out a shaky breath and it seemed to deflate her as she slowly sank into her cushioned chair with limp limbs, her head swimming and spinning with her interaction with a madman.

' _What the hell has she gotten into?'_


	2. Tit for Tat

" _ **The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of people who are evil, but because of the people who do nothing about it" – Albert Einstein**_

 _ **5:21 AM – The Wayward Motor Lodge**_

 _ **Gotham City**_

Drew slumped against the wall with a heaving sigh, she raised her eyes up to the ceiling in thought.

Her boss, Charles York, hadn't paid Drew much thought when she had called him in a frenzy about the bullet lodge in the ceiling of his establishment. It was Gotham, he said, a little bit of gun fire wouldn't hurt the place and she was all in one piece so no use in being all dramatic about it.

' _Can't believe I held someone up at gun point'_ Drew's eyes wandered over to where said hole was and shuddered when the memory of what had passed washed over her.

" _Oh, Yeeah. Ne_ _ **xt**_ _time, I, uh, see your face-_ _ **uh**_ _, I want yoou to know ju_ _ **st**_ _actually whoo, " He twirled a finger in the air just to stab himself in the vest covered chest, "I am. Or, I'll_ _ **give**_ _you a matching pair." The clown motioned to his large red grin before giving her another wink and lopping out of the lobby and down the sidewalk._

With a sorrowful groan, she burrowed her head into her open palms.

' _How the fuck am I supposed to know who he is?'_ She hissed at herself.

Drew mulled over her previous encounter with the clown and came up with nothing but a massive headache. She was brought out her thoughts when her cell phone that was located in the small, black two-bit potato sack Drew called a purse went off.

 _If I don't get some shelter, Oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away! War, children, it's just a shot away, It's just a shot away!_

Jeff's ringtone blared to life right in the middle of the chorus making Drew grin at how perfectly his ringtone matched him.

Plucking up the singing phone and smashing the answer key. Drew held it up to her ear and lowered her voice to make herself sound more masculine, "Y _eeeellow_? Salty's Sperm Bank, you spank it, we bank it."

She could just picture Jeff's usually grinning face twisting uncomfortably underneath the red light of his developing room, with a negative picture in his hand shaking.

" _Uh…"_ Came the intelligent reply.

Drew rolled her eyes with a slight smirk decorating her lips, "It's me, dumbass."

A stutter sounded out of the speaker as Jeff cleared his throat in annoyance.

" _You're a dick, ya know that?"_ Jeff snapped at her, the very faint Hispanic accent well hidden, even in irritation.

"Yeah, you've told me before." Drew plopped back in her office chair and hefted her booted feet onto the ottoman in front of her so she could stare listlessly at the TV, "What's up, Jeffy?"

A slight pause met her question before she could hear Jeff rustling around his papers and pictures and a muted' Aha!'.

" _So, ya know that old abandoned chemical factory over on the East Side? By the docks?"_

Drew hummed in confirmation before he continued on.

" _Well, you know I like to go free lancing whenever possible so…"_

"Get on with it." Drew droned, running a nail underneath another one so she could scrap up the dirt that had collected there.

" _Ooookay," Jeff scoffed, a small laugh slipping out, "Cranky."_

Drew gave an affronted look before saying, "I've been in hell the last twelve hours. I can afford to be cranky."

" _Anyway, I was over that way about a night or two ago and I saw some vans and equipment over there that usually wouldn't be. I thought I'd, ya know, go check it out."_ She could picture the shrug that Jeff had just done.

" _So I'm walking into the gates of the place and I see a person and, this is where it gets weird, "_ Jeff warned _, "I was going to ask the guy what they were doing down here, maybe they were trying to rebuild the place, ya know? But when he turned around, he was wearing a clown mask, Dre!"_

Drew's teasing smile fell and crumpled when he mentioned 'clown mask'. Jeff was chattering away happily on the line while she was swept back up in memory.

"Jeff," Drew cut him off swiftly, "Jeff, did you say clown masks?"

He made a humming noise of approval.

"And, um, what kind of vans did they have?" Drew quivered in her seat, her widened eyes couldn't help but dart over to the two white vans with blacked out windows that sat just outside her place of work.

" _Uh, well, they were white, I guess. Tinted windows,"_ She could hear him scratch at his beard softly.

Time slowed and fuzzed right before her eyes.

"W-what," Drew stopped to swallow the lump in her throat, "What were they doing there?"

Jeff paused before answering.

" _Loading something up in the vans. Big boxes."_

Dread now ran rampant throughout Drew's small form, she could faintly hear Jeff talking to her but it was like he was talking through water.

" _Ya know, Dre, even since that 'Joker' guy came to town wearing all that makeup, I thin-"_

Drew unfroze and sputtered for a moment, "Wait, wait. What do you mean that 'Joker' guy?"

You could hear Jeff scoff and chuckle a bit in disbelief, " _You are kidding right now, Dre? Where've you been? Underneath a rock?"_

She pulled back from the phone to send a scalding glare that Jeff couldn't see but a tingling in his forehead made him chuckle nervously before he cleared his throat.

"I just got back from a month's trip to South Carolina, dick. It was my parent's 30th anniversary." She reminded him, looking out of the front lobby doors with a squint as she noticed the sun starting to rise over the skyline of Gotham's skyscrapers.

Splashes of maroon and deep plum scattered across the clouds, lighting up the usually gloomy city of Gotham. Drew could see the lights from the previous night flicker and turn off as the sun rose and started to settle on the bustling city below it, basking the front lobby in a brilliant golden glow.

" _Dre…that guy has been terrorizing Gotham for about 2 weeks now. Started off as a bank robbery at Gotham National, these days he's working with the mob and running around taunting Batman. Way I see it, Gotham doesn't stand a chance."_

Drew could feel the panic rise like a swelling wave at the beach, threatening to tumble over into itself.

" _Dre? You there?"_

She could hear Jeff's concerned voice buzzing back at her through the receiver but all she could do was stare blankly at the yellowed countertop with a rock stuck in her throat.

After a moment she responded, "J-Jeff?"

A relieved sigh met her ears, _"What's up, Drew? Are you okay?"_

Drew blinked back the tears that were about to pool over, "What does this guy look like?"

She could tell she had stumped Jeff with her off the wall question.

" _Look like? This guys a freak! Wears a purple outfit, clown makeup."_ Jeff stopped and mulled over his words, " _I do hear he has these-"_

"Scars…" Drew wheezed.

" _Yeah! Looks like a smile."_ Jeff snorted, " _Guess that's why they call him the Joker."_

As Jeff was busy snickering at this guy's name, Drew could only gape at her phone with terrified eyes. She was having difficulty comprehending that the guy she had drew the gun on last night was the very same guy Jeff was croaking on about.

Shoving herself away from the counter, Drew quickly shuffled over to her computer and pulled up the search bar, fingers nearly blurring when she typed in 'The Joker, Gotham City.'

" _Dre? Why are you so quiet?"_

Drew startled and looked back down at her phone that she had put on speaker, "Jeff, would you believe me if I told you that I used that gun you gave me last night?"

Clicking the 'search' button, a tiny hourglass showed up and spun for a moment before articles upon articles loaded up the page.

" _What? Really? What for?"_

 **ROBBERY AT GOTHAM CITY'S NATIONAL BANK: THREE RINGED CIRCUS?**

Was the first newspaper article she stumbled upon, on the side of the article was a zoomed in picture of a man driving a school bus while the picture was in black and white, you could see the risen line of his scars.

Drew paused in her scrolling with sucking her bottom lip into her mouth to chew on the skin there then rolled her eyes toward the ceiling, "Um…what if I said I used it on this guy?"

Her eyes once again found the blurred screenshot hesitantly.

Jeff must've been taking a sip from his coffee because the sound of liquid being spewed everywhere came through the phone along with multiple sputters.

" _D-Did you just say you pulled a gun on the Joker?"_

A long silence answered his question and he met it with a pained groan, a light ' _thud'_ as he leaned forward to bang his head on the table in front of him.

" _Oh, Drew. What have you done, you fucking moron?"_

Indignation crested over Drew rapidly at his bewildered tone and insult.

"Hey! The guy was creepy, with his makeup and shit." Drew snarled back at him, "And he wouldn't let go! What was I supposed to do? Take it like a sitting duck?"

" _Wouldn't let you go?"_ Jeff mumbled back at her.

She huffed and ran a shaky palm over her frizzy hair before replying, "Yeah, leaned over the damn desk and got my wrist in an iron hold so I…drew out my gun and lined it up between his eyes. Point blank."

Jeff could be heard fumbling with something in his hands before he dropped it and let out a muffled curse.

" _And you got away?!"_ Came the screamed question.

Drew sheepishly shrugged before realizing he couldn't see her and answered back with a meek, "Yes?"

A strangled groan crackled over the phone before she could hear Jeff take in a deep breath and then letting out a large sigh of weariness.

" _You are one lucky person, Dre. This guy isn't joking around, excuse the pun. He strung up that Bryan guy just for dressing up at Batman!"_

Drew blew out a sigh before leaning forward on the counter to prop her chin up on her palm, "Well, no use crying over spilt milk now."

The sound of a car pulling up made Drew perk up as she realized her shift was at an end for the night.

"Call you later, Jeffy." Drew blurted in barely contained excitement as the sight of her relief, a larger woman with salt-n-pepper colored hair named Doris Cane, bumbled up the sidewalk and through the lobby doors.

Doris Cane was a gentle giant, the perfect grandmother combination of sweetness and firm. Her rounded face was soft and had laugh lines marring the corners of eyes and the sides of her mouth, Doris was always in calm colors like robin jay blue or dreamy shades of cream that complimented the hazel eyes behind her thick spectacles.

"Good Morning, Mrs. Doris." Drew greeted, standing from her chair to collect her items to leave.

Doris sent a delicate smile at her, a twinkle in her eye.

"Morning it is, dearie. But at this God awful hour, I am not sure if I would call it _good."_ The old woman chuckled, rounding the corner of the front desk so she could open the door to the office and come through to the counter.

Drew shrugged one shoulder, "True enough. I'm going home to sleep for about 12 hours."

Doris rummaged in her large purse for a second before pulling out two, small throw pillows and stacked them neatly in the office chair just to sink in it with a content sigh.

"You do that, dearie." Doris paused for a moment, reaching over to grab the ottoman just a little ways off so she could prop her feet up. "You sure do deserve it. Working these night hours in Gotham of all places, I'm surprised you haven't run off."

A shudder ripped itself through Drew at her statement, her memory lighting up and dragging the face of a certain clown to the forefront of her mind.

Doris took notice of the suddenly green faced girl.

"Oh, heavens! Are you sure you're feeling well enough to drive?" Doris cried taking in the stricken face of Drew.

Drew shook out of her little fit and sent the ruffled woman a reassuring grin, "I'm okay, promise!"

The old woman eyed her skeptically for a minute before turning back to the computer to sign in on her shift.

Drew shifted uncomfortably and glanced outside to see that the sun was now high and bright in the sky, dangling over the lively city of Gotham that was now flooding with life. The once deserted streets were lined up in traffic, honking and cursing could be heard from afar from the oh-so-lovely Gothamites that resided there.

' _Should I warn her about the clown?'_ Drew worried at her bottom lip, eyes darting off to the side in thought.

She would she decided.

Clearing her throat to catch Doris' attention, who was now humming a merry little tune as she filled up her coffee cup to the brim.

"Hey, uh, Mrs. Doris?" Drew asked quietly, "We have some occupants that came in last night, just thought you should know. They're a bit," Drew paused so she could search for the right word, "Intense?"

Doris furrowed her brow at Drew in confusion before speaking, "What are you talking about, dear?"

Drew looked at the bewildered look on the old woman's face with a squint of her own dose of perplexity.

"Didn't you see the vans outside when you pulled up?" Drew asked with a head tilt.

Doris looked around the lobby as if searching for answering before training her kind eyes back on Drew, "No, dearie. It looked like it was just us here."

Drawing back in disbelief, Drew walked over to the main lobby entrance to peer outside into the parking lot. All that greeted her was her own small silver Toyota corolla and Mrs. Doris' own tawny Oldsmobile were in the mostly vacant lot.

Wariness rose up swiftly in Drew as she made her way back to where Doris was sipping happily at her mug.

"Uh, never mind." Drew muttered, grabbing her items again so she could leave, "I guess they've already left."

Doris hummed in agreement.

"Well, I'll be back in about a day or two, Mrs. Doris." Drew swung open the glass door with her free hand, the other full with her jingling car keys and the crook of her arm stuffed with her other items.

"You have a nice couple days off now, Drew dear. You shouldn't over work yourself, it is good for the soul." Doris advised with a doting look, taking note of how Drew was practically threw together. Her usually neat blonde hair was frizzing and looked like it needed a good brushing as along with the drained look that settled deep in Drew's unusually dull orbs.

Even her skin looked paler than usual.

Drew waved off the concern with a casual hand, "I'll be fine, Mrs. Doris. Have a nice day."

"You too, dearie." Doris waved at Drew's back, watching the younger girl stalk to her car and chunk all her belongings in the backseat before sliding into the driver's seat and taking off into Gotham.

Doris smiled to herself.

"What a nice girl."

She glanced up to turn the ceiling fan on above her but blinked in shock as a bullet hole stared back at her just inches from the fan.

"Good Lord!"

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.

.


	3. A Caxton Tamed

" _ **The beauty of the world has two edges one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder." – Virginia Wolfe**_

 _ **7:14 AM**_

 _ **Eastside Docks- Gotham City**_

The Joker stood behind the off-white loading truck with his hands clasped behind his back and a merry hum vibrating from his throat. The dark optics he called eyes darting left and right, watching his men heave and lift the large cardboard boxes that contained a little _surprise_ for the citizens of Gotham.

He stifled a giggle as he bit his bottom lip in anticipation, turning to gaze at the sun that was now rising up over the corrupt city below and was casting a sleepy gilded glow over the banal, grey skyscrapers that littered all over Gotham. Taking a large lungful of the raw stench coming off of Cape Carmine, he closed his eyes briefly to soak up the feel of the sun on his torn flesh before reopening them with a slight sneer on his mouth.

The Joker was basking in all of the seediness and deceit of the city right in front of him, drinking in all the greed and malice that practically radiated from the tar paved streets.

Like a King to his Kingdom.

Digging a gloved hand into his coat pocket, The Joker pulled out a small Swiss knife. It was old and had traces of the white paint that decorated his face all over the handle. He began to mindlessly swipe a thumb over the worn wood of the blade just as he turned back to face his henchmen.

It was an old habit he supposed.

Tongue flickering out to tease the corners of his mouth, he eyed up the men in his employment with an impatient stare.

All the men here were large, they needed to be in this line of work. Most were dull looking, a faraway gleam in their otherwise guileless eyes and slacken, grave faces. They all sported tattoos of some kind, scribbled on any empty space of skin some even on their faces. There was no intelligence here, just brute strength and static in their empty heads.

' _Idiots.'_

The Joker could feel the muscle below his right eye start to tense in a jump before he shook his head roughly making green dyed blonde strands fan out in the hair just to settle on the collar of his coat.

" _Alright,_ ladie **s**." The clown sneered at the men before him, "Hope all of you go **t** your, _uh, beauty sleep_ last night. N _ooo_ time for **dead weight** today."

The men all shifted nervously and looked around at each other before grumbling in understanding.

If they fucked up today, he'd kill them without a second thought.

The Joker nodded his approval with a smug smirk pulling at his mouth at the anxiousness in the air that surrounded them.

Smacking his lips dramatically he continued to speak, "Does anyb _ooo_ dy have any question _sss?"_

A cough.

He sniffed in indifference, he had wanted a bit of fun before taking off on the town before shrugging then lobbing the pocket knife in his hand at the thug that had coughed so he didn't even have time to gasp in fear before the pearly blade staked home right in his neck.

The goon gurgled, his hands flying up to grasp hold on the handle sticking out of the column of his neck.

" _A-ta-ta,"_ The Joker chimed with a sharp laugh, "I wouldn' **t if** _IIII_ were, uh, **you."**

The men around the henchman all scuffled backwards with wide eyes and open jaws as the man fell forward onto his knees. The blood was streaming down his neck in earnest, the thick liquid quickly staining and covering most of the white sweatshirt the goon had adored. Fearful sky blue eyes bugled out of his head as he hastily tried to stop the swift blood flow.

The Joker watched with an apathetic gaze as the goon fell completely on the ground in a seize, his hand clenching and unclenching on the handle of the knife as if he was debating pulling it out or not. The Joker rolled his eyes in annoyance before stomping over to the struggling man and placed a foot on his chest, batting away the fluttering fingers of the henchman just so he could grasp it and give it a hard pull so the knife came sliding out gracefully.

"Good thing _I'm_ no **t** _you, riiiight?"_ The Joker threw his head back in a cackle as the wound gushed forth more precious liquid that dribbled endlessly even as the man it came from body stopped moving all together and his eyes glazed over forever in a dead stare.

"Shit, he killed Ray." One of the men whispered, his voice shaking slightly.

The laughing cut off suddenly as The Joker stood upright to send a snarky grin at the group, " **Ray?** Like _sting_ ray?"

An uncertain nod answered him.

The Joker hummed and placed a finger on his chin in mock thought before narrowing his eyes and snapping his head back to look at the buffoons in front of him.

"I'll **send** _him,"_ He jerked a thumb toward the rapidly cooling body, "Back out to **sea!"**

In almost a second, his mood changed from humorous to stale as nobody seemed to catch onto his hint. He turned on them with a rabid snarl making them all flinch and scoot back a couple steps.

"Feed'em to the fishes." The Joker seethed turning his back on them because he knew that they would do ask he told without fail.

' _Unless they wanted to end up like ole Ray'._

The Joker listened absent mindedly as his men scooped up the dead body and made their way over to the side of the harbor and the heavy ' _splish'_ as the body made contact with the repugnant water below. As they were loading up the last of the boxes, The Joker was busy twirling the pocketknife that was crusted over in half dry blood in his hand mulling over some last minute things before a nearby conversation caught his attention.

"Hey, remember that blonde from last night?" A goon with dark russet skin and a particularly painful looking tattoo of the words _'Mad Dog'_ written in cursive above his left brow bone in black ink.

Another goon this one pale skinned and a chip of skin missing from the top of his left ear, "There were a lot of blondes last night." He grumbled back, lifting up a box.

Mad Dog groaned exasperation and shook his head, "No! The one from the motel."

The Joker perked up at the mention of the flame of a girl he had stumbled across when he had went to retrieve his key.

' _Dreeew.'_

A flash of the fuming malachite eyes that had almost seared a hole in his head skated across his memory faintly. He paused in thought for a second before letting out a manic giggle when he thought about how accurate that really was.

The petite woman had drawn a firearm and silently declared she would put a bullet in his skull if he even so much as moved a toe wrong. Morbid fascination tickled the back of his brain as he scanned over every detail that had been their brief, yet interesting, meeting.

Drew.

The Joker snickered to himself as he pictured the once perturbed expression on her freckled face vanish in turn for a solid sneer marring her mouth, twisting the petal pink skin into a distraught frown. His tongue flickered out to drag across his own mouth but his lips were bumpy and mangled with scars not like the soft texture he knew Drew's mouth to feel like.

She was small, _painfully small,_ she had barely reached the collar of his shirt when he had appraised her after jeering at her tiny stature. Drew was the poster child of helplessness it looked like when he had come walking through those glass doors, a slight hop in his step.

He had carelessly glanced her over with an indifferent look in his eyes as he had moved closer to the front desk she was perched at. His first real look at her, he almost started howling with laughter at the miniscule waft of a human being behind the counter.

But she had proven him wrong.

Drew had stood her ground and snapped back at him with venom in her bite.

The Joker's eyelids lowered with sinister pleasure as he ran the tip of his tongue along the short scar on his bottom lip slowly, eyes open but staring at nothing.

Oh, this _girl._

He hadn't given any thought to her when he had left the dingy hole in the wall motel but _now…_

She was **fun,** he decided with a sly smirk.

"Yeah, she was pretty fine. Nice face, perky tits." Chip Ear's voice snagged him out of his thoughts abruptly, "Little on the _itty bitty_ side though. Not much meat on her."

The Joker's mood instantly soured as his goons practically foamed at the mouth of the thought of Drew in a compromising positions and what she could do for them. Irate black orbs swiveled and locked onto the two conversing men, who were completely oblivious at the fact that their boss' ire had been kindled.

' _She was_ _ **his.**_ _'_ The fleeting thought brushed over The Joker's bubbling irritation.

His what, he wasn't sure yet but all that mattered was that he had laid a claim on her, **not them.**

"Ya kn _ooow,"_ He sang, making his way over to where they were with a skip in his step, "It's, _uh,_ **rude** to ta _lk_ about someone when they're no **t here."**

Both goons stiffened in panic when they realized that The Joker was moving towards them with a malicious twinkle in his eye and started sweating when he flipped out a switchblade at his side with twitching fingers.

"B-boss…" Mad Dog stuttered, a nervous frown pulling at his lips.

The Joker huffed out a forced chuckle, shaking his head lightly, "Pret _ty_ little doll, **wasn't** she?"

Mad Dog and Chip Ear both looked skittish now compared to the hardened thugs they actually were, they glanced at each other before managing a tiny nod at him, unsure of his intentions.

" _Awww, whassa matter?"_ He cooed stepping forward, the Swiss knife in his palm tapping a random tempo impatiently on his thigh. The group had gone in a hush at his words so when he moved toward them the sound of the bottom of his shoe scraping the gravel made them all stiffen.

In a flash, the once teasing smile fell off his face and was replaced with a far more malevolent glare that he was drilling into the two men standing side by side with dumbfounded looks on their faces.

Clenching his multicolored teeth together The Joker rasped out, "She's _mine._ **Any** one got, _uh,_ any problems with tha- _ **t**_?"

It was a resounding 'no' from the group.

The Joker leveled them all with a chilling stare for about ten seconds, taking their measure. In a flip of a coin, the usual feral grin was back and gleaming.

" _ **Good."**_

He turned on his heel to start pacing back toward the loading vans and whistled sharply at the still stunned henchmen at his back to get them moving, who all stumbled over themselves trying to pick up their things and head towards the vehicles with wariness resting in their hearts.

"Get a m _ooove_ on, **boys."** The Joker cackled, swinging himself into the passenger seat of the first white van, "We have a, _uh,_ **fun** eral to attend."

' _And I have a little dolly to find.'_

With that thought tucked neatly into the folds on his mind, The Joker settled himself in the seat and looked out of the vehicle window with a small smirk playing on his mouth, his thumbs started to twirl around each other in vile merriment.

.

.

.

 _ **2:39 PM**_

 _ **Burnside Apartments – Gotham City**_

A loud snore tore through the small, shadow filled bedroom. The colored glow from the TV was reflecting onto the bed were an unmoving lump resided, nothing but breaths making the body move.

Drew was sprawled out on her back with the sheets tangled hazardously around her middle just to dip off the side of the bed and onto the shaggy, muted grey carpet. She had one arm tucked underneath a nearby pillow and the other was stuffed beneath her head to support her skull in her sleep, Drew had completely kicked off the thick comforter in her shift for comfortableness.

And she was drooling.

" _This is 10% luck, 20% skill, 15% concentrated power of will, 5% pleasure, 50% pain. And a 100% reason to remember the name!"_

Drew's snore was cut short as her alarm clock rang to life, her answering groan of displeasure muffled by the flesh of her arm that her mouth was pressed up against.

"Shut uuuuup." Drew hissed into the air, rolling onto her side to slap at the offending machine.

Once the beast was silenced, she plopped face down on her mattress and let out another stifled moan before lifting herself off the bed and padding over to her attached bathroom.

If you could call it that.

It was pretty much a storage closet that someone had gutted and shoved in a sink, toilet and stand up shower to pass off as a bathroom suitable for someone to use.

Drew flicked on the light switch beside the entrance and winced as the lemon colored light slipped all around the small area, bathing everything in a dingy flare. She looked up into the mirror and scowled at what she saw.

Her pale hair was sticking up in every direction possible and was the equivalent to a rats nest.

"Jesus." Drew deadpanned at herself, bringing a hand up to brush back the matted knots.

Swiping up the toothbrush in the glass cup by her sink, Drew reached down to rip the stubborn drawer open with a grunt so she could fish out her toothpaste amongst all her other feminine products. Stuffing the toothbrush into her gaping mouth, she commenced her daily personal hygiene routine.

After dragging a brush through her matted hair, Drew strutted out of the bathroom and over to her Bluetooth speaker so she could start picking out her outfit for the day.

"This one?" Drew muttered, thumb scrolling through her playlist on her phone before decidedly pressing on a title.

" _Can't stay at home, can't stay at school. Old folks say ya poor little fool. Down the street, I'm the girl next door. I'm the fox you've been waiting for!"_

Tossing her mobile device onto her bed, Drew began to nod her head to the beat of the song as she pranced over to her small closet to shuffle through the choices. Snatching an old grey hoodie with the faded words ' _Woodrow Roosevelt High'_ that Drew had snagged from a passing boyfriend a couple years back when she had first moved to Gotham.

While she had her back turned to the still lit TV, a newscast of Commissioner Loeb's memorial was taking place right outside of Gotham City Hall with the whole GCPD squadron and most of the city there in remembrance.

" _I'll give ya something to live for, have ya, grab ya till you're sore. Hello_ _**daddy,**_ _hello_ mom _, I'm your ch-ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb!"_

Drew silently mouthed the lyrics as she pulled the sweatshirt over her head and straightened it out, she could hear the mourning voices of the news reporters as they broadcasted over the funeral service.

" _And now, mayor of Gotham City, Honorable Mayor Anthony Garcia has some words he'd like to say"_ The TV informed her.

She could hear him introduce himself and then start speaking on Loeb's past accomplishments.

Humming to herself, Drew bent down to pull on the jeans she had adorned last night, yanking them over her thighs and zipping them up with a huff. She ran her hand through her hair one last time before starting towards her bedroom door.

She didn't hear the low volume television as the mayor was cut off in a rush of gunfire and frenzied screaming as she skipped out of her front door, phone clutched in her hand. The music fading with every tap of her shoes.

" _Hello world! I'm your wild girl! I'm your ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb!"_

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _ **3:41 PM**_

 _ **Right outside of Burnside Apartment Complex- Gotham City**_

Drew was met was a whirlwind of people pushing and shoving in a panic. Mothers dragging their offspring behind them with wide frantic eyes looking anywhere but behind them, GCPD was everywhere on the street.

Red and blue lights lit up the entire main street were cops were running around, yelling into their walkie talkies pinned onto their uniformed chest. Drew was extremely confused and tried to reach out to bypassing strangers, who in turn gave her a wary look and sprinted off before she could open her mouth to ask what had happened.

"What the hell?" Drew mumbled while twisting her neck around so she could get a better view of the frantic by passers that pushed their way through or around her.

Just as Drew was reaching back to slip her cellphone out of her back pocket, a warm body slammed into her side making her loose her balance and tip over onto the pavement below her.

"Hey!" She hissed as the flesh of her palms tore open as she tried to catch herself mid-fall, "Excuse you!"

The person that had bumped into her was silent and stood directly beside her, she could see the scuffed up brown leather of his shoes and the brightly colored hexagon long socks. As Drew was busy fussing over her minor injury, the person beside her began to laugh.

Drew looked up in a flash of ire when he started to chuckle in earnest, even going so far as to lean over and clutch his stomach with how hard he was laughing.

And her blood ran cold.

Free of makeup was the same man from the night in the motel with a wide smile splitting his face.

"Hello, _doll._ "

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.

.


	4. Hickory Dickory Dock

_Hey guys! Thanks sooo much for reading! I just wanted to let everyone know that I am reading your reviews and they give me life! Please, comment more and tell me what you think, what I should consider, blah!_

-Your Friendly Neighborhood Monowriter

 _ **Here…**_

 _ **We…**_

 _ **Go…**_

" _ **To beguile the time, look like the time; Bear welcome in your eye, your hand, your tongue: Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent underneath."**_

 _ **Lady Macbeth**_

 _ **3:57 PM**_

 _ **Right outside of Burnside Apartment Complex- Gotham City**_

Drew's mouth went dry and her eyes nearly bugled out of her skull at the sneer like grin casted her way.

"Cat _gotcha_ tongue, sw _eee_ ts?" The bare faced clown cackled, leaning forward so that his face was only a couple inches from her own.

She couldn't speak, the words lodged deep in her throat as soulless eyes burned down at her.

Drew's heart was practically galloping in her chest at this point in her life, her chest heaving deeply but saying nothing as she could only stare in shock at him.

" _C'mere."_

She was startled out of her moment of panic when she noticed him swipe down at her like he was going to grab at her but Drew quickly shuffled to the side so that his bare fingertips grazed the top of her right shoulder.

" _Oooh!_ Where ya- **uh** going, _doll?"_ He hissed with a sinister grin pulling the bare scars taunt on his face before stepping forward just to cough in pain when Drew lifted her stiff leg from the pavement and delivered a swift kick to his upper thigh, making him stumble back into the brick wall behind him.

"Get the fuck away from me!" Drew yelped rolling to a shaky stand as she met his eyes.

"Little **fight** in you." He purred back at her, regaining his balance, " _I like that."_

Drew scrambled backwards into the panicking crowd as he started to advance on her swiftly with a bemused look twinkling in his eyes. Different bodies shoved into her sides and back as she quickly back pedaled away from the predatory form of him.

She looked around her for help at the many citizens around but none seemed to notice Gotham's menace smack dab in the middle of the frenzy. When she figured out that no one would be coming to her rescue, Drew turned back to face the clown head on with a hardened stare and set jaw.

The Joker immediately recognized the fear drain to be replaced with that all too familiar fury that he had witnessed on their first encounter.

The shift was obvious, with her short stature in mind, he could see her pull herself back together and straighten out her spine so Drew could draw herself up as much as possible. Her once clouded eyes were now burning viridian that were focused entirely on his person, the way the muscle in her jaw jumped as she clenched her teeth together was enough to know that her rage had returned.

He could practically hear the grinding of her molars from where he stood.

Drew's posture was entirely aggressive now having turned from defense to offense in a split second, her chest was heaving from either fright or anger he didn't know but one thing he did know was…

 _She was fantastic._

His lids lowered slightly as he took her in, like a connoisseur sampling a fine wine. He wanted to burn in her searing ire, wanted to taste that anger from the direct source. Now whether he meant that as them coming down to a physical fight or… _something else_ , he wasn't sure.

The Joker was slightly puzzled though, he had never had a reaction like this unless it came to his favorite pastime, taunting the Bat Man obviously, but he had never _**wanted**_ something like he wanted this girl.

Sure, he wanted to rule over Gotham with an iron fist.

Sure, he wanted to show the Bat Man the error of his misplaced sense of self-righteousness.

He had precise ideas with how to come about those two specific things.

But _her…_

She was chaos in the flesh.

And some may say, _chaos in the flesh? This tiny girl? Crazy talk._

The Joker's eyes shifted over to the side for a moment in thought before mentally shrugging.

Well, no one said he was exactly sane.

"Leave me alone."

He was jerked out of his racing thoughts at the sound of her firm voice, making it delightfully funny coming from such a small person. A giggle tore itself from his mouth as he visualized a golden furred miniature Chihuahua snapping and growling at a grinning Rottweiler.

Little dog syndrome.

" _Leave you alone?"_ The Joker snickered at her frowning face, "Why, _uh,_ baby **doll**. We're j _uuust_ ge **tt** ing starte _d."_

Without giving her time to muster up a reply, he lunged at her with an outstretched palm ready to clamp onto the nearest body part he could.

Drew stiffened as she saw him pounce at her before she tried to turn away from him to bolt down the packed street and just as she turned, her blonde ponytail whipped behind her.

It would be the beginning of something she could never conjure up in her dreams.

A shrill cry tore out of her mouth as strong fingers twisted solidly into her hair and gave a stern pull backwards so her back was pressed tight up against his front. Her skull was now snug on his collar bone, those fingers not letting up once on her poor scalp.

Drew flailed her arms to try and deter his grip but a tanned forearm came around and securely trapped her hands by her waist as he curled an arm around her middle to stop her erratic movements. She cried out in pain when his fingers tightened their hold, making short strands of blonde snap from their roots.

" _Sh, sh ,sh."_ The Joker mockingly soothed, pressing his cheek onto the crown of her head.

Drew bit her chapped lips at the feel of his bare skin touching her. She wanted to run, wanted to get _far, far_ away from this clown. She wanted to _fight,_ Drew wanted to smash her fists into his smug scarred face for forcing her into submission.

Narrowed orbs stared straight up at the rooftops of the nearby skyscrapers that littered Gotham like trash as indignation and the curious feel of being totally enraged swelled like a cresting wave in her.

She wanted to dig her nails in his face and rip away that taunting grin he had, to snap her teeth at the fingers curled tightly around her ponytail.

Drew was _furious._

But unfortunately, subdued.

The Joker caught onto the slowing of her struggles to rip herself away from him until they stopped completely.

"Done, _bunny?"_

Drew stood unmoving, stiff and cold as a statue in the tight circle of his arms. A blank expression took place on her once enraged features, smoothing out the jagged lines of her frowning face and making her look even younger than she already appeared.

A cold nose pressed into the skin right underneath her left earlobe and The Joker took an obnoxious whiff there just to let out an ominous rumble that Drew felt rather than hear from her close proximity to his chest cavity.

"What do you want?" It wasn't a question, more of a statement. Drew knew he wanted something from her, but didn't know quite exactly what.

If the sharp _**click**_ of a switchblade didn't catch her full attention, the feel of cold metal digging into her lower back sure did.

"Let's, uh, _take_ thi **s** back to _your_ place, hm?"

.

.

.

Drew couldn't believe her luck.

Here she was being escorted back up her apartment stairs with a scarred clown at her back with a dangerous weapon casually resting in his hand. Her keys were in her shaking, sweaty palm as she paced down to her door, **202.** The last '2' on the door was slanted from where the nails holding it had loosened and dropped at some point.

While she couldn't see him, she could feel his body heat radiate onto her as he stepped up close behind her when she shook out her key ring to fiddle for the correct door key for her deadbolt and basic door lock. He hadn't said a word since they started to make their way to her apartment but she could hear him stifle a giggle every now and then.

Drew could smell him now that she wasn't struggling to flee from him.

Gunpowder, male musk and cheap aftershave.

She frowned when she noticed he didn't reek of the blood of victims and greasepaint. Dammit. It made him more human somehow rather than the monster she knew lurked within.

" _Come on, come on, come on."_ He wheedled hoarsely from above her shoulder.

As soon as he heard her deadbolt draw back and unlocked, he grasped the door handle and pushed through roughly as he grabbed a handful of her sweatshirt and practically tossed her into the adjoining kitchenette. Drew caught herself on the counter by the stove hastily and quickly turned to face him so she wouldn't be vulnerable on her backside.

He was quickly redoing the locks of her front door before spinning around to face her with a smirk.

They were both quiet for a moment before he stepped forward with his hands clasped behind his back.

 _Just like the first time she had met him._

" _Sooo"_ He drawled, moving his mouth with sharp _smacks,_ " **Drew.** Figured out who I _am?"_

Drew stood stone still, watching his every move just in case he planned to attack her again. After she processed his question, she timidly nodded.

"And, _uh,"_ The Joker sucked his teeth hard, " **Who** am _I?"_

Her jaw clenched so tight she thought she'd catch lockjaw from all the grinding her back molars were receiving. Drew could feel the swell of distraught tears starting to make itself known as his image before her started to blur and twist just to blink them away with a fierce glare.

"T-The," She stammered with a dry tongue, "Joker."

He let out a string on manic giggles while shuffling his feet forward gleefully toward her.

Drew grew stiffer and stiffer as he got closer to her frozen form, her heart hammering away at her ribcage.

"Th _aaaaat's_ r _iiiii_ ght." He snickered at her, tight blonde ringlets falling onto his forehead to shadow his eyes that were stabbing a hole right into her.

Her shoulder were tensed by her ears, petrified beyond belief but willing to fight if necessary.

"What do you want?" Drew whispered, her lips barely moving as she trained her eyes onto his own that were filled with smug amusement of having her trapped in her own apartment.

The Joker paused and considered her for a second, his hands coming from around his back and swung freely by his sides once more. He lowered his neck so he could peer up at her from below his eyebrows, serious and dark this time.

"You." He stated simply, like he was asking about the weather or what time is was.

Drew sagged at the answer, the tension in her shoulder leaving her deflated and shocked.

"M-me?" Drew stuttered, ice now racing through her veins.

Before he could conjure up an answer, Drew shifted backwards on her heels while bringing a hand up to her mouth to cover it.

The Joker followed her movement with eager eyes, ready to watch Drew break down and sob in front of him. Show him that weakness he so desired, to watch her eyes cloud and overflow with tears and watch her small body crumble underneath her.

Drew spun around so her back facing him and he revealed in the shaking of her shoulders that her sobs were causing and just as he was about to step forward to claim her tears, he stopped in his tracks.

It started small at first, just little hiccups here and there.

The Joker tilted his head so his ear was exposed to the open air.

"Are you…?"

In a flurry of movement, he darted forward to clamped onto her upper arms just to spin Drew around so he could press her harshly against the cold tile of her kitchen counter.

Staring down at what he had thought would be a shattered woman was a laughing one instead.

Drew was grinning.

Pearly teeth gleaming back up at him in a deadly semblance of a smile. He could tell that look anywhere, she wasn't smiling, she was baring her teeth at him. Like an animal ready to pounce and rip the meat off his jugular just to leave him to bleed out.

Tears were streaming out of the corners of her eyes which were trained on him solely.

"So you came back to kill me?" Drew seethed, ripping herself out of his slacking grip and rounded the island to stand a couple feet away from him.

Mock laugher spilled out of her mouth, fear and delirium coloring the joyous notes not in a way they should before she stopped suddenly to pin him with a blank stare, her mouth suddenly closed and tight lipped.

"Try it." She spat at him, a sneer rising the corners of her mouth.

Immediately, peals of insane laughter exploded out of The Joker so much that he leant forward to hold his sides in his amusement as his body shuttered.

" _Kill_ **you?"** He rose a finger to point accusingly at her with a smarmy grin slapped onto his mug.

The Joker rose himself from his bent position just too lean back onto the counter behind him with an imagine of ease. He crossed one leg over the other with the toe of his right shoe snug on the ugly flooring of her kitchen then moved back so his palms rested on the tile of the countertop.

He looked like he was simply discussing something with an old friend.

Blonde curls flew around his shoulders as he shook his head furiously, "I don't want to _kill yoou._ "

Drew narrowed her eyes at him in confusion, the fear she once was feeling suddenly draining and being replaced by morbid curiosity. She flickered her tongue over her dry, chapped lips to rehydrate them and center herself.

"Then what do you want?" The words came out hoarse, barley a question to be heard but he heard it anyway.

The Joker seemed to ponder her question to himself before clicking his tongue on the inside of cheek while looking off to the side, seeming to inspect her modest living room with an inquisitive glance before flicking his gaze back at her.

"Don' **t** you know, _uh, curiosity_ **killed** the ca **t**?" He asked with a hint of humor tinting his voice. His gaze was intense and holding her in place, watching her every twitch to make sure she didn't try to flee.

Instantly Drew shot back, "Don't **you** know satisfaction brought it back?"

The Joker's chocolate eyes narrowed at her.

 _Fuck. She was making it worse for herself._

The sound of his tongue clicking and a smacking of the lips snapped her out of her thoughts.

" _Very true,_ doll _face_ , uh." The Joker cracked his neck to side with a loud **crunch** before rolling his shoulders out with a false sigh.

Drew froze in terror as he whipped his head back around to stare at her with a blank face, her breath stuck in the middle of her throat.

" **Good** thing, _uh,_ cat _sss_ have nine **lives,** " He quirked a grin at her, " _Huh?"_

 _._

 _._


End file.
